There will be no change to electricity tariffs before April 2023, according the Manx Utilities Authority.

It says this is because the wholesale energy markets ‘remain volatile’.

Electricity is currently 22p per unit.

In August, the MUA was given a loan package to prevent an enormous rise in electricity prices as part of the government’s targeted winter support.

Prior to this, Manx Utilities warned it would have needed to increase tariffs by between 70% and 90% in the autumn.

This would have meant bills rose up to 37.4p per unit, leading to an increase of around £500 to the average household bill.

Considering this, the Council of Ministers directed Manx Utilities to freeze the cost per unit until March 31, 2023.

To fund this freeze, the taxpayer lent the taxpayer-owned utility company up to £26m, with the loan to be repaid over a 20-year period.

A spokesperson for the MUA said: ‘No changes to electricity tariffs will occur prior to April 2023.

‘At that time wholesale natural gas prices were rising and continued to rise after this decision, before the recent falls.

‘However, the wholesale energy markets remain highly volatile with prices changing significantly in short periods of time, and may continue to change significantly prior to April 2023.’

This comes after the Isle of Man Communications and Utilities Regulatory Authority (CURA) reduced gas tariff prices to around 5.5p a unit, which represents a drop of just under 25%.

The CURA said a reduction was warranted due to recent price movements on the wholesale gas commodity market.

As a result gas prices were reduced from 22.21p per unit to 16.67p per unit.

The Manx Utilities spokesperson added: ‘Manx Utilities’ position is different from Manx Gas’s.

‘We have sought to minimise tariff increases and so have not increased our tariffs as much as Manx Gas.

‘This means the reduction in Manx Gas’s tariff still results in their revised overall increase remaining over twice our overall increase and therefore a reduction of electricity tariffs is not appropriate at this time.

‘This is particularly as the Isle of Man is currently providing customers with one of the cheapest rates of electricity in the British Isles.

‘It is likely we will have a clearer understanding of our electricity tariffs from April 2023 during the first quarter of 2023.

‘In the meantime, we remain committed to providing cost effective and reliable utility services for our customers.’